OSF Saint Francis Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of Illinois are now home to the first state designated Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center in downstate Illinois.

The Level 1 distinction is the highest ranking of its kind for a hospital and recognizes centers that provide optimal care for the trauma patient. The pediatric designation is in addition to the adult Level 1 trauma center designation for OSF Saint Francis.

The emergency department is staffed by board-certified emergency medicine physicians and pediatric surgeons along with specially trained nurses 24 hours a day, who are experienced in the treatment of children. Annually, there are more than 800 admissions to trauma services. Approximately 200 of these are admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Being a Level 1 means pediatric trauma patients get all the specialties needed. With OSF Saint Francis being the only such pediatric trauma center in downstate Illinois, patients do not have to travel out-of-state or to Chicago to get this level of care. Patient outcomes are shown to be better when such care is more readily available.

Level 1 Trauma Centers must meet certain requirements set by the state of Illinois for staff and equipment including surgical, cardiothoracic, neurosurgical, anesthesiology, radiology, in-house laboratory services, and inpatient Intensive Care Units.

OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, with 616 beds and more than 900 physicians, is the fourth-largest medical center in Illinois. A major teaching affiliate of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, it is the area’s only adult and pediatric Level I Trauma Center, the highest level designated in trauma care. It serves as the resource hospital for emergency medical services for north-central Illinois. It is home to Children’s Hospital of Illinois and the Illinois Neurological Institute. OSF Saint Francis and Children’s Hospital have been designated Magnet Status for excellence in nursing care since 2004. www.osfsaintfrancis.org

ABOUT CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF ILLINOIS

Children's Hospital of Illinois is the third largest pediatric hospital in Illinois and the only full service tertiary hospital for kids downstate. With 124 beds, and more than 120 pediatric subspecialists, Children's Hospital cares for more children in Illinois than any hospital outside of Chicago. Formally established as a pediatric hospital within the walls of OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in 1990, Children's Hospital has over 5,000 admissions; 2,500 newborn deliveries, and 18,000 emergency department visits each year. Learn more at childrenshospitalofillinois.org/